3/31/09

Three Weeks' Worth

Well.

My paper is finally done. I'm so relieved. I really feel like I had no idea what I was talking about. But it's over, and I don't have to worry about it anymore. Now I can focus on my remaining three papers, two presentations, and one test (and planning for spring break). Fun fun fun...

So I owe you three weeks' worth of updates. It's going to be a long post...

Right after I posted my last (real) update, I finally got the package that Mom sent me. It was so nice to get something from home. There were a lot of things that I appreciated in there, but probably some of the most important things were a can of pumpkin and a set of American measuring cups and spoons. Carrie, Sarah, Louise and I had decided that on March 14th, otherwise known as Pi(e) Day (get it? 3/14?), we would make several pies and extend a general invitation for people to come partake in the pie goodness. We made homemade crusts, and we made strawberry, pecan, banana pudding, apple, and pumpkin pies. Unfortunately, only two other people were able to come, so we had a LOT of leftover pie. That was basically all we ate that day...


I was so glad to get real peanut butter!


the mess in the kitchen



Sarah, Judith, Yuki, Louise, and Carrie enjoying pie!


That evening, the International Link people invited all of the international students over to someone's house for an Irish music night. It was really interesting to hear all the different kinds of music that they played, with the variety of instruments. I took videos of some of the songs, but my Internet connection isn't strong or fast enough to let me upload them here, so I think I'll have to wait until I get home to do that. They provided dessert and coffee for us. Anyone care to guess what the dessert was? Yep. Pie. We cracked up when we saw it, but after that we couldn't even look at it.

That week was Saint Patrick's day. Everyone has the day off, because of the holiday, so we were able to travel. Sarah planned a trip for all the international students that were interested to Dublin for the day. We took a bus from the University at 6 am, and arrived in Dublin around 9:30. We walked around a bit, and then attempted to find a good place to watch the parade. It was absolutely insane- people would push their way to the very front, and parents would make other people move so that their kids could have a good spot. Other parents just let their kids crawl in between people's legs to get up front (which was actually pretty funny). We finally found a decent spot, and proceeded to wait for an hour and a half for the parade to actually begin. By the time it started, we were all beginning to feel a bit claustrophobic. The parade was pretty good, though. It wasn't what I was expecting- I guess I had pictured something like the Macy's Thanksgiving parade, but it turned out to be more like a carnival-festival atmosphere (you'll see in the pictures).
























the Saint Patrick's day parade

As soon as the parade was done, we made a beeline for the nearest restaurant. We were lucky- some people waited around a bit more to see if the parade was really over or not, but we were able to get seated right away. The place turned out to be an American-style fifties' diner (complete with the tiny jukeboxes), and I was able to eat my first hamburger since I left the US. It tasted absolutely fantastic. Then we went and explored Dublin. Parts of the city were ok, but parts of it were basically mosh pits. In one particular block, you couldn't control where you walked- you just had to go where the crowd pushed you. I think we would have liked to see some more of the city, but a lot of the things that we would normally see were either closed or extremely busy. We ended up just walking around a lot, which was ok. We ended up getting back to the University around 11 that evening, so it was a pretty long day.

the huge crowd

Up until that week, the weather had been pretty much the same: colder, very windy, rainy and overcast, with the occasional burst of sunshine. The past couple weeks, though, have been really nice. The temperature has been higher, and that week we didn't have any rain. The flowers all started to really bloom. One day, Louise, Carrie, and I went to the daffodil garden to take pictures. I loved seeing all the bright colors next to each other! It felt so refreshing. . .










the daffodil garden at the edge of campus

So now I'm working on planning out spring break. The first week, I'm going to be traveling around the UK with Carrie and her mom. We're going to Scotland, Wales, and England. The second week, Carrie and I are going to meet up with some of her friends that are studying abroad in London and we're all going to travel to Italy. We'll fly to Milan (in northern Italy) and work our way down to Rome. I'm really excited, but I'm realizing what a pain it is to plan out trips (thanks for always doing it, Mom and Dad)! I'll be glad when it actually starts, so I can just relax and enjoy it. I'm not sure that I'll have Internet access during those two weeks, so I'll actually have a legitimate excuse for taking so long to post anything! Ha!

Anyway, normally I would be done, but I'm waiting for all the pictures to upload, so I might as well add this in. I promised that I would teach you some Irish phrases, so here goes! You may already be familiar with some of them, but I figured I'd just cover all the bases.

chips- french fries

crisps-
chips

wee-
small, little. However, the usage is not limited to this definition. It seems like it's used to describe almost anything and everything. Example: "I'm going to take a wee trip," "I feel a wee bit tired," "Pass me that wee book" (even if the book is a dictionary)

craic/crack-
fun, good times. This is particularly humorous to us Americans, as our common definition of that word is significantly different. Examples: "What's the craic?" ("what's up?); "It was good craic." You can have a lot of fun with this one...

crikey-
just what you would expect. It's not quite as common, but still heard much more often than it is in the US. (I think of you, Allie, whenever someone says it.)

cheers-
thanks; goodbye

ach- oh. Typically used as "ach, yes" or "ach, no." Basically, it's just really fun to say.

This will probably be my last update until I get back from my travels, because I probably won't have anything else to write about, but if you ask really nicely then maybe I'll update Friday evening or something.

Missing you!
Lots and lots of love and hugs!
Erin

2 comments:

  1. actually, it's usually ach, aye. and did you put up enough pictures of the parade?

    ReplyDelete
  2. This was not nearly long enough to justify the three week absence. Maybe you should add the paper you wrote onto the end.

    ReplyDelete